Cities everywhere are struggling to develop strategic responses to vast and rapid economic changes brought about by globalization while mediating the social impact of economic change. Workforce development is a policy area that straddles the divide between economic development and social welfare imperatives. This thesis examines local networks supporting workforce development activities in three Ontario cities in order to better understand the dynamics of urban governance in Canada. The analysis focuses on the two central questions of whether cities have the political autonomy to develop their own strategic workforce development networks, and if so, do these networks reflect efforts to integrate economic development and social welfare considerations. It engages with three theoretical perspectives that offer different explanations for local governance dynamics: neo-institutionalist theories argue that higher institutional structures shape and constrain local governance efforts; the critique of neo-liberalism argues that local governance dynamics will be dominated by the interests of capital for economic development; and theories of urban governance argue that cities have the autonomy to shape their own governance efforts. Theories of urban governance also focus analytical attention on how the patterns of interaction between local state and non-state actors shape local governance dynamics. The study does find evidence of local workforce development networks, and finds that these networks vary according to the patterns of interaction between local state and non-state actors. From a neo-institutionalist perspective, however, the study also finds that macro-institutional policy frameworks shape and constrain these local governance efforts.

This thesis addresses two central questions: How in the long run do Canadian citizens learn about politics? And how does long term experience with politics influence democratic political engagement? The theoretical framework employed in this study makes four basic assumptions about citizens: they are intendedly rational, they use cognitive shortcuts, they are adaptive, and they often face deep uncertainty about the political world. These core assumptions generate a broad set of expectations about how long term experience with politics systematically affects citizen behaviour. This evidence indicates that years of accumulated experience with Canadian politics fundamentally shapes the political outlooks and behaviours of Canadian citizens. Political experience affects whether citizens vote, whether they get the requisite political information that helps them to make reasoned political judgments, and how different considerations enter into their vote choices. Moreover, and despite their different backgrounds, long term experience with Canadian politics influences democratic political engagement among Canadian born citizens and immigrant Canadians in strikingly similar ways.

The problem of climate change is the major challenge to the world community. However, the full world community still fails to find an adequate solution to this problem. In such a situation, the mutual efforts of plurilateral institutions, such as the G8+5, MEM (now MEF), APEC and APP are major drivers of the successful solution to the problem of climate change. This study examines these informal plurilateral institutions’ role, their effectiveness in policy creation and implementation, and their potential impact on global or regional climate governance to show that the APP and MEF have been effective in inducing climate action by their members. This paper applies an analytic framework of the six dimensions of global government developed by John J. Kirton. The development of environmental initiatives of six Asia-Pacific countries(the U.S., Canada, Japan, China, Korea and Russia) have been accompanied by the introduction of energy efficient technologies policies such as building and clean coal policies.

The problem of climate change is the major challenge to the world community. However, the full world community still fails to find an adequate solution to this problem. In such a situation, the mutual efforts of plurilateral institutions, such as the G8+5, MEM (now MEF), APEC and APP are major drivers of the successful solution to the problem of climate change. This study examines these informal plurilateral institutions’ role, their effectiveness in policy creation and implementation, and their potential impact on global or regional climate governance to show that the APP and MEF have been effective in inducing climate action by their members. This paper applies an analytic framework of the six dimensions of global government developed by John J. Kirton. The development of environmental initiatives of six Asia-Pacific countries(the U.S., Canada, Japan, China, Korea and Russia) have been accompanied by the introduction of energy efficient technologies policies such as building and clean coal policies.

This thesis addresses two central questions: How in the long run do Canadian citizens learn about politics? And how does long term experience with politics influence democratic political engagement? The theoretical framework employed in this study makes four basic assumptions about citizens: they are intendedly rational, they use cognitive shortcuts, they are adaptive, and they often face deep uncertainty about the political world. These core assumptions generate a broad set of expectations about how long term experience with politics systematically affects citizen behaviour. This evidence indicates that years of accumulated experience with Canadian politics fundamentally shapes the political outlooks and behaviours of Canadian citizens. Political experience affects whether citizens vote, whether they get the requisite political information that helps them to make reasoned political judgments, and how different considerations enter into their vote choices. Moreover, and despite their different backgrounds, long term experience with Canadian politics influences democratic political engagement among Canadian born citizens and immigrant Canadians in strikingly similar ways.

Cities everywhere are struggling to develop strategic responses to vast and rapid economic changes brought about by globalization while mediating the social impact of economic change. Workforce development is a policy area that straddles the divide between economic development and social welfare imperatives. This thesis examines local networks supporting workforce development activities in three Ontario cities in order to better understand the dynamics of urban governance in Canada. The analysis focuses on the two central questions of whether cities have the political autonomy to develop their own strategic workforce development networks, and if so, do these networks reflect efforts to integrate economic development and social welfare considerations. It engages with three theoretical perspectives that offer different explanations for local governance dynamics: neo-institutionalist theories argue that higher institutional structures shape and constrain local governance efforts; the critique of neo-liberalism argues that local governance dynamics will be dominated by the interests of capital for economic development; and theories of urban governance argue that cities have the autonomy to shape their own governance efforts. Theories of urban governance also focus analytical attention on how the patterns of interaction between local state and non-state actors shape local governance dynamics. The study does find evidence of local workforce development networks, and finds that these networks vary according to the patterns of interaction between local state and non-state actors. From a neo-institutionalist perspective, however, the study also finds that macro-institutional policy frameworks shape and constrain these local governance efforts.

This dissertation is an attempt to better understand the moral and political thought of John Rawls. I begin by calling into question the conventional, though misleading, image of Rawls as a thoroughgoing Kantian. While the influence of Kant upon Rawls is undeniable and therefore well documented, there are important theoretical differences between them, and these differences open up the necessary interpretive space for the under-appreciated influences of Jean-Jacques Rousseau and G.W.F. Hegel. That neither Rousseau – a theorist of recognition – nor Hegel – a theorist of reconciliation – is regarded as an important influence on Rawls is a major oversight in the history of political thought – an oversight that my dissertation hopes to amend. But there is more at stake here than the addition of a new chapter in the history of political philosophy: when we expose the full extent of the Rousseauian and Hegelian heritage of justice as fairness (and later, political liberalism), we get a more complete, nuanced – and, in my view, a more attractive – image of the moral and political philosophy of Rawls. This new, richer image of Rawls’s political philosophy is captured by what I call “robust reasonableness”: what Rawls offers, in the end, is a more conspicuously demanding account of the reasonable – of our obligations towards our fellow participants in social cooperation. Justice as fairness is thus anchored by a morality of engaged and committed citizenship. This is precisely what Rawls sees as missing from Kant’s ethical philosophy. In response, he turns to Rousseau and to Hegel, both of whom provide, at least on Rawls’s view, persuasive solutions to the pathologies of social and political life. Rawls incorporates many of these solutions into the normative and practical landscape of his own philosophical doctrine, and this compels us to reconsider that doctrine in the light of these unrecognized influences.

An examination of data from 21 older members of the University community aged 59 and older, including those who do and those who do not use the campus gyms, and six athletic programming staff from the two facilities to attempt to understand how older adults choose to negotiate their physical activity as they age. The study demonstrates that those respondents most comfortable in the gym spaces in the university setting are those who have occupied those spaces over many years, or those who have been habituated to gym culture through their activities outside the university setting. Using the ’mask of ageing theory’ in combination with Bourdieu’s concepts of habitus, capital and field, this study is an attempt to understand the individual and cultural practices that older adults engage in to manage their physical activities at the University, their other activities outside, as well as the performative aspects of their engagement.

This dissertation is an attempt to better understand the moral and political thought of John Rawls. I begin by calling into question the conventional, though misleading, image of Rawls as a thoroughgoing Kantian. While the influence of Kant upon Rawls is undeniable and therefore well documented, there are important theoretical differences between them, and these differences open up the necessary interpretive space for the under-appreciated influences of Jean-Jacques Rousseau and G.W.F. Hegel. That neither Rousseau – a theorist of recognition – nor Hegel – a theorist of reconciliation – is regarded as an important influence on Rawls is a major oversight in the history of political thought – an oversight that my dissertation hopes to amend. But there is more at stake here than the addition of a new chapter in the history of political philosophy: when we expose the full extent of the Rousseauian and Hegelian heritage of justice as fairness (and later, political liberalism), we get a more complete, nuanced – and, in my view, a more attractive – image of the moral and political philosophy of Rawls. This new, richer image of Rawls’s political philosophy is captured by what I call “robust reasonableness”: what Rawls offers, in the end, is a more conspicuously demanding account of the reasonable – of our obligations towards our fellow participants in social cooperation. Justice as fairness is thus anchored by a morality of engaged and committed citizenship. This is precisely what Rawls sees as missing from Kant’s ethical philosophy. In response, he turns to Rousseau and to Hegel, both of whom provide, at least on Rawls’s view, persuasive solutions to the pathologies of social and political life. Rawls incorporates many of these solutions into the normative and practical landscape of his own philosophical doctrine, and this compels us to reconsider that doctrine in the light of these unrecognized influences.

An examination of data from 21 older members of the University community aged 59 and older, including those who do and those who do not use the campus gyms, and six athletic programming staff from the two facilities to attempt to understand how older adults choose to negotiate their physical activity as they age. The study demonstrates that those respondents most comfortable in the gym spaces in the university setting are those who have occupied those spaces over many years, or those who have been habituated to gym culture through their activities outside the university setting. Using the ’mask of ageing theory’ in combination with Bourdieu’s concepts of habitus, capital and field, this study is an attempt to understand the individual and cultural practices that older adults engage in to manage their physical activities at the University, their other activities outside, as well as the performative aspects of their engagement.